1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a credit intermediary system, a credit intermediary apparatus and a method thereof, a recording medium and a program. More particularly, the present invention relates to a credit intermediary system, a credit intermediary apparatus and a method thereof, a recording medium and a program that enable a credit card company to easily perform crediting process.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of an information processing system adapted for using a credit card in related art. According to this configuration example, terminals A1 to A3 of affiliated stores of a company A which issued credit cards are disposed in predetermined stores. In the same way, affiliated store terminals B1 to B3 of a company B and affiliated store terminals C1 to C3 of a company C are disposed in predetermined stores, respectively.
These affiliated store terminals A1 to C3 are connected to a CAFIS (Credit And Finance Information System) 1 through a network 3.
Card company apparatuses 2A to 2C, which are administrated by the company A, the B company and the company C, are also connected to the CAFIS 1 through the network 3.
Next, processes of the system shown in FIG. 1 are explained with reference to flow charts shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 6 below. FIG. 2 shows processes of the affiliated store terminals A1 to C3, FIG. 3 shows process of a card company apparatus corresponding to the affiliated store, to which a user shows an intention to use a credit card, (i.e., a user's card company apparatus) among the card company apparatuses 2A to 2C, FIG. 4 shows process of the CAFIS 1 and FIG. 5 shows process of the card company apparatus (i.e. a card issuing company apparatus), which issued the credit card to the user.
Additionally, FIG. 6 shows a relation of the processes of these affiliated store terminals, the user's card company apparatus, the CAFIS and the card issuing company apparatus.
At the beginning, with reference to the flow charts shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 6, the process of the affiliated store terminal is explained below. As a matter of convenience for the explanation, it is assumed that at the present moment, the user uses a credit card, which is issued by the company B and is also capable of being used with the affiliated store terminal of the company A, at the store in which the affiliated store terminal A1 is placed.
If the user intends to purchase a commodity by the use of one's own credit card at the store in which the affiliated store terminal A1 is placed, the affiliated store terminal A1 reads a card number, an expiration date and an issuer from the credit card of this user in step S1. In step S2, the affiliated store terminal A1 sends a request for a authorization to the user's card company (in this case, the card company apparatus 2A of the company A administrating the affiliated store terminal A1) through the network 3. The authorization request is sent with the card number, the expiration date and the issuer, which are read in the process of the step S1.
After requesting the authorization as described above, a result of the authorization (authorization result) is transmitted from the card company apparatus 2A, which is one of the user's card company apparatuses (step S15 in FIG. 3 and FIG. 6). The details of an authorization process will be described later.
In step S3, the store terminal A1 receives the authorization result, which has been transmitted from the card company apparatus 2A.
Further, in step S4, the store terminal A1 determines whether or not the authorization result, which has been received in the process of the step S3, indicates that the transaction by the user's credit card is authorized (authorization OK). If the authorization result is the authorization OK, the process proceeds to step S5 and the store terminal A1 carries out procedures to complete a sale transaction (sales process). If the authorization result is not the authorization OK (i.e., in the case of authorization NG), the process proceeds to step S6 and the store terminal A1 carries out procedures to refuse a sale transaction (sales refusal process).
Next, with reference to the flow charts in FIG. 3 and FIG. 6, the processing of the store terminal A2, which is one of user's card company apparatuses, is explained.
In step S11, the card company apparatus 2A receives the request from the store terminal A1. This request is transmitted in the step S2 shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 6.
In step S12, the card company apparatus 2A determines whether or not the card company has authority to perform the authorization on the basis of this request. Typically, the card apparatus of the company that has issued the credit card only has such authority. Accordingly, for example, in the case that the authorization of the credit card issued by the company A is requested, the process proceeds to step S16 and the card company apparatus 2A carries out the authorization process.
However, since the authorization of the credit card, which is issued by the company B, is requested in this case, the card company apparatus 2A forwards the authorization request to the CAFIS 1.
In this case, as described later with reference to the flow charts shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the authorization result is transferred from the CAFIS 1 (step S25 shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 6).
Therefore, in step S14, the card company apparatus 2A receives the authorization result, which has been transferred from the CAFIS 1.
After that, proceeding to step S15, the card company apparatus 2A transfers the authorization result that is received in the step S14 or authorization result that is executed by the card company apparatus 2A itself in the step S16 to the store terminal A1.
Next, with reference to the flow charts shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 6, the process of the CAFIS 1 is explained below. Receiving the the authorization request forwarded from the card company apparatus 2A, which is one of the user's card company apparatuses, in step S21, the CAFIS 1 confirms an issuing company that issued this credit card in step S22. It is possible to confirm the issuing company from the card number. Then, in step S23, the card company apparatus 2A further forwards the authorization request to the issuing company that is confirmed in the step 22.
The card company apparatus 2B, which is one of the card issuing companies and to which the authorization is forwarded, executes the authorization process and transmits the authorization result (steps S32 and S22 shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6).
Therefore, in step S24, the CAFIS 1 receives the authorization result that has been transmitted from the card company apparatus 2B. Then, in the step S25, the CAFIS 1 transfers the authorization result that is received in the step S24 to the card company apparatus 2A, which is one of the user's card company apparatuses.
Next, with reference to the flow charts shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the processing of card company apparatus 2B, which is one of the card issuing companies, is explained below. In step S31, receiving the re-forwarded request from the CAFIS 1, the card company apparatus 2B executes the authorization process in accordance with this reception in step S32. Then, in step S33, the card company apparatus 2B transmits the authorization result to the CAFIS 1.
This authorization result is transferred from the CAFIS 1 to the card company apparatus 2A (the step S25), and it is further transferred from the card company apparatus 2A to the store terminal A1 (the step S15).